25. Chapter 25
Well bless her heart.
This damn outfit… grunt … is so fucking tight…
As I struggle to get undressed in our cottage, I feel warm hands on the sides of my half-exposed torso. “Need some help with that, sweetheart?”
“Please,” I squeak, my voice sounding slightly strangled. Because this leather monstrosity has turned into the equivalent of a boa constrictor.
“Allow me.”
A few seconds later, all of my clothing, including the flaming she-devil leotard, is on the floor, and I can breathe semi-normally again. “You’re very good at undressing women,” I tease, and Reno’s face turns into a storm cloud of displeasure.
“I only want to undress you , Juliette,” he says fervently, pressing a firm, demanding kiss against my lips. “Only you.”
“O-okay,” I stammer, a little surprised at his insistent tone.
He sweeps me off my feet—literally—and carries me to the bed we’ve been sharing, pulling the sheer drapes closed to cocoon us in our own little world.
He’s already deliciously naked, and I run my hands all over his taut, muscular body.
Reno Swain is absolutely the most perfect specimen of man ever created.
Sliding down beside me, he pulls the covers over us and holds me close. This is different. We’re usually not beneath the covers during sex. They always end up in a tangled heap at the foot of the bed from our vigorous… activities .
The light from the lamp is muted by the gauzy white material enclosing the bed, lending a softness to those gorgeous green eyes I’ve become addicted to. Reno leans up on one elbow, looping his leg over one of mine and pulling it wide as his fingers trace every inch of my face.
He seems to be mesmerized, and the feeling is a hundred percent mutual. A team of stormtroopers could bust through the door right now, and I wouldn’t be able to look away from this beautiful man hovering over me.
We’re in our own little bubble together, one charged with emotions I can’t quite define. He finally breaks the silence.
“Juliette…” He closes his eyes, and for that brief moment, I feel like crying at the loss of contact. But then he opens them again, and they’re swimming with affection. “I want to make love to you, baby.”
Make love. Not fuck or screw. He said he wants to make love to me. That’s some very un-Reno-ish talk, and something sparkly fires off inside my chest. I’m unable to form complex words around the lump rising in my throat, so I nod and whisper, “Yes.”
Reno covers my body with his own and nestles his hips between my thighs, his erection already evident. He nudges my entrance, rocking his hips to coat himself with my slickness as his lips pepper sweet kisses all over my face.
Resting on his forearms, he latches his gaze onto my face and presses forward, entering me slowly until his pelvis is flush with mine. His shaky breath flurries across my lips as he rests his forehead against mine.
“Nothing’s ever felt better than this,” he says, his voice sounding a bit ragged.
“Same for me,” I croak, feeling my heart opening up for this man. When he pulls back and enters me again with another measured thrust, it’s like he’s plunging into my soul at the same time.
And Reno does make love to me. His movements are raw but not rough, his words fervent but not dirty .
“You are so beautiful, Juliette. So sweet.” He kisses down the side of my neck and then back up to whisper more heart-bending words into my ear in his deep, sultry voice. “I’ve never met anyone who makes me feel the way you make me feel.”
Tears leak from the corners of my eyes and drip down my temples. Reno notices and sips them away with soft sucks.
“Don’t cry, pretty girl,” he gently scolds.
“I can’t help it. You make me feel so full.” My lips curve into a small smile, and I lift my hips from the bed, driving him even deeper. “And I don’t mean down there . I mean in here.” I tap my chest.
Reno’s eyes soften at the corners, and then he lowers his mouth to mine, kissing me with a tenderness that has me aching for more from him. More kisses. More time. More everything .
Our bodies move together, rocking like a boat on a gentle sea while our tongues tangle. The bedsprings creak with our rhythm, but there’s no headboard banging. No, our lovemaking is sweet and poignant, an unhurried joining of two people who feel an innate connection.
It’s so much better than any sex I’ve ever had. It’s almost like our goal is not to reach for orgasms; it’s to revel in this night together. Our last night .
A hiccuping sob escapes from my mouth to his, and he breaks the kiss, pulling back a couple inches to study my face. “Are you okay, dream girl? Am I hurting you?”
Only my heart.
But I answer with a soft no , and he nods in understanding, as if he feels the same pull that I feel.
“Stretch your arms over your head,” he requests, and I do. Reno drags his hands slowly up my arms until his fingers link with mine, pressing the backs of my hands into the mattress.
We have full-body contact in this position, and it only heightens the emotional impact of our lovemaking. He’s warm, slightly damp, and the dark hair on his torso lightly abrades my soft skin as he moves over me.
His eyes are so intent on mine, I couldn’t look away if I wanted to. And I don’t want to. The intimacy between us is almost palpable, and I revel in it.
“I wish we had more time together,” I whisper, giving him my vulnerability. I wrap my legs around him and use my heels against the backs of his thighs as leverage to lift my hips. He goes impossibly deeper, binding our bodies together until we are no longer two separate people but a single entity.
“I do too,” he tells me softly before kissing me again. Our quiet moans echo and then combine in our mouths, and we finally come together. It’s a slow, drawn-out orgasm, one that leaves me trembling beneath him for what seems like forever.
But we don’t have forever. We only have tonight, and I suppress the urge to sob into his shoulder and beg him for more.
Reno releases my hands and wraps his muscular arms beneath me, holding me tight as he nuzzles his face into the side of my neck.
“You really are my dream girl, Juliette,” he says in a slightly muffled voice, though I can hear him clear as day.
“Whenever I think of the perfect woman for me, it will always be your face I see.”
Crushing my eyes closed, I loop my arms around his neck and cling to him, letting the tears escape like a leaky faucet. I no longer care about my I don’t date hockey players rule. Or that we live so far away from each other.
I don’t care about any of that because…
I’m completely in love with Reno Swain.
“I can’t believe you wouldn’t let me take a shower,” I mumble as the flamingo-pink van glides through the gates of the small Pineapple Island airport .
It’s barely past dawn, the sun peeping through the trunks of the palm trees lining the road. Because of the early hour, there are only four passengers in the van—me, Reno, and a couple I don’t know.
“I told you why.” he retorts in a low voice, a smirk teasing the corners of his lips.
“Because you want me to have the crusty crotch?” I shoot back with a mock glare, giving him an easy elbow to the ribs.
Reno pulls me closer with the arm wrapped around my back and kisses my ear. “Because I want my cum between your legs for as long as possible.”
“So that’s a yes to the crusty crotch,” I declare.
He laughs. “I didn’t shower this morning either because I want you on me as well. And besides, we showered at one point in the middle of the night, so we’re not completely gross.”
“Ahhh, yes. I believe that was after round two,” I muse.
His smile relaxes into fondness at the memory. “That was a good one.”
“They were all good,” I say wistfully, thinking of the marathon sex we’d had all night long.
Twice I woke with Reno’s face between my legs because he declared it unfair that he didn’t get to taste me before bed.
Then he made love to me again and again with only cat naps between sessions.
He was insatiable… not that I’m complaining.
I was just as rabid for him. As the night stretched into morning, the lovemaking took on an almost frantic air of need, our bodies clinging to each other in desperation.
Somewhere in the night, I made up my mind.
I’m going to talk to Reno about trying for something more.
Now that I’m aware of my true feelings for him, there’s no way I can let him go.
And I’m pretty sure he reciprocates those feelings, or at least he’s on his way to loving me.
The way he was with me all night… the loving looks…
the sweet words… the gentle touches… Yeah, he’s definitely feeling more than a casual fling.
My resolve strengthens.
Long-distance relationship? Bah! We can overcome that.
Hockey player? Screw it! They’re not all the same.
We can do this. It won’t be easy, but when you find the one you’re supposed to be with, you do what it takes.
And Reno Swain is the one . I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.
“Let’s go, dream girl.”
I’m snapped out of my love-fueled reverie to find that the van is in front of the terminal and Reno is standing with his hand outstretched for me. I smile as I take it and allow him to lead me out onto the sidewalk where Frank has our luggage unloaded.
Reno takes his suitcase and one of mine, leaving me to follow with my small one. “I can get both of mine. They have wheels,” I protest, earning me a not gonna happen scowl over his wide shoulder. “And you really didn’t have to upgrade my ticket to first class.”
“I need the extra leg room,” he replies, approaching one of the baggage kiosks. “And there’s not a chance in hell I’m not sitting with you on the plane to Miami.”
I close my mouth and allow him to scan our codes and print the luggage tags.
“You seem to have overpacked,” he teases. “Not that I’m complaining, but your island clothes are pretty small.”